History

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of Stamford, Connecticut holds a singular distinction in the history of Greek Orthodoxy in New England: it was the first Greek Orthodox church established in the State of Connecticut. Its story begins in 1897, when the first Greek settlers arrived in Stamford, drawn by the prospect of work at the Yale and Towne Manufacturing Company. These early immigrants built the tight-knit community life typical of Greek arrivals of that era, opening grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, and coffee houses that anchored their social world while they held fast to their language and traditions.

In 1905, a small group of these Hellenes came together with the shared dream of founding a Greek Orthodox parish. They named the church Evagelismos, or Annunciation, and elected Constantine Skroubelos as their first president. Lacking sufficient funds to build, they worshipped at the St. Luke Episcopal Chapel on South Pacific Street and engaged a priest who commuted from New York City each Sunday. The parish was granted its ecclesiastical charter in 1909. In 1912, the Rev. George Caloyianis became the permanent rector and would serve the community with distinction for 35 years, until his retirement at age 81 in 1948. That same year the community purchased land at 648 South Pacific Street, though five years would pass before construction was complete. Through a personal bank loan negotiated by parish president Peter Vanech, the building was finished in 1917. A Greek school was established at the same time, and a neighboring parcel was purchased in 1918 through the sole generosity of Demetrios Theophilatos, who donated the full purchase price to meet the city's requirement for a school playground.

In 1925, political tensions rooted in the Venizeliki-Vasiliki divide in Greek politics prompted a small group of parishioners to break away and eventually form the Church of the Archangels. Despite this rupture, the Annunciation continued to grow. In 1935, under president George Psychopaidas, the community secured a bank loan and donations to enlarge the building, and new icons were painted and transported from Mount Athos. The renovated church was consecrated on June 13, 1937 by Archbishop Athenagoras, who would later become Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. An attempt to reunite the Annunciation and the Archangels was made in 1951 under Archdiocese facilitation, but the two communities separated once again in 1953, each continuing independently.

By the early 1970s it was clear that the South Pacific Street property could no longer serve the community's needs, and that the neighborhood had changed significantly around it. The parish purchased a 4.5-acre lot at 1230 Newfield Avenue for $130,000 in 1973, and groundbreaking for Phase I of the new community complex took place on March 9, 1975. The original church, property, and parish home were sold that year. The new community building was officially opened on June 15, 1976, with services held in converted classroom space for the next fifteen years while the full church was planned and funded.

Groundbreaking for the new Byzantine cross-shaped church, Phase II, took place on November 22, 1986, with Archbishop Iakovos officiating. Construction began in August 1987, and over the following years the community celebrated milestones including the laying of the cornerstone, the dedication of twenty-four dalle-de-verre stained glass windows in 1988, and the installation of the golden dome and cross in 1990. The Thyranoixia, or official opening of the doors, took place on November 17, 1991, with Archbishop Iakovos again presiding over a mortgage-free, $2,000,000 project. Beginning in 2000, the interior iconography was completed by Eleftherios Gourogiannis of Greece, and a chapel dedicated to Saint Nektarios was built and furnished with relics of the saint in 2001. A mortgage-burning celebration in November 2002 marked the end of a twenty-five-year financial journey. The parish celebrated its centennial in 2005.

Today, the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church continues its ministry at 1230 Newfield Avenue in Stamford as a parish of the Direct Archdiocesan District of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the enduring mother church of Hellenic Orthodoxy in Connecticut and a living link to the pioneering immigrants who planted their faith in this city more than a century ago.